A few years back I wrote a song about a Mermaid for my album. The words of 'Mermaid' are:

Mermaid was swimming in the dark sea Seven thousand miles away from me She was surrounded by many sailors Perplexed by her beauty

The sailors looked upon her form And desire within their hearts was born They wanted only what they could see A piece of her beauty

The waves began crashing wildly around There was no hope for her left to be found They were so blinded And tried to grasp Her heart was broken in two

Could it be broken, is love just a token That can be bought and sold What is a pure flame, unspoiled by the soul's shame This fire that remains unquenched

A young man was staring so intently Into the blue eyes of serendipity He wanted only to make her happy But she could not be owned She could not be owned She could not be owned

A mermaid is a creature of two worlds: the ocean and the earth. She doesn't fit into either world perfectly. She is neither fully human, nor is she fully fish. She is both. Her hybrid state makes her ephemeral, ethereal, other-worldly - a creature of fantasy and myth. Some would even use the cruel word, 'freak'. As much as there is awe and fascination with her, the mermaid also evokes a sense of aversion or a feeling of discomfort because she is a hybrid of two very different creatures. As Ariel from Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' can attest, she longs to be a 'part of your world' because she doesn't really belong anywhere.

I want to talk about that sense of 'not fitting in'. Of feeling like you're not a part of the accepted crowd. It's that feeling that you felt when you just started school, or were perhaps bullied, rejected or simply ignored. That hollow feeling of disconnection.

That feeling has always been with me from my early years and has caused me much pain. Voices have rung in my head like:

"Why can't you be more like her?"

"Why do you have to be so different?"

While the natural human instinct is to run from pain, I believe pain has a transformative power and can carry important life-changing lessons if channelled in the correct way. Pain often has a purpose. Before giving birth, a pregnant woman experiences a great deal of pain. While it is awful, she knows that the pain carries a purpose. It leads to something wonderful. It leads to a newborn child.

The pain of 'not belonging' has also been transformative for me. The pain has been awful but it has also blessed me with empathy, humility and it has taught me that being different is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a gift from our Creator. While the mermaid belongs in neither the ocean or the sea perfectly, she is a magnificent creature of beauty, mystery, uniqueness and well loved by many. She may long to be a 'part of your world' but it is her uniqueness, rarity and hybrid form that makes her incredibly valuable and beautiful. Perhaps that is the price that we pay for being unique and valuable - the price is not fitting in and being misunderstood.

Creativity requires unusual and rare foresight. Oscar Wilde said, "A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." In order to create, you must see things that are not there. You must be able to see things through different eyes. I guess that is why so many artists felt like they didn't belong. Vincent Van Gogh, Robin Williams, Michael Jackson and the list goes on.

As much as social media champions individuality and being unique, ultimately human beings were built to connect and unfortunately being different does not encourage connection. This is the price that artists pay. Art is often born from pain. There is always some sacrifice.

While art can be beautiful and have great meaning, the artist pays a price in order to create that art. Mermaids are beautiful, but their beauty comes at a cost. The mermaid embodies every person who has ever felt like they didn't fit in. She lives in my heart. This is why I believe in mermaids.

Let me tell you a story of a little singer-songwriter who embarked on a CD launch and thought that she could fill a 450-person capacity venue with enthusiastic fans of her music.

She believed the Hollywood-concocted myth from the motion picture ‘Field of Dreams’ that ‘if you build it, they will come’. So she built it.

But on the day of the launch she only had about 4 to 5 tables of 10 filled with people. This left 400 seats painfully empty in a large hall.

She performed to an unenthusiastic crowd. It was difficult for her to keep up the energy when the room was so lacking in enthusiasm.

At the end of the night she could not sleep because the word ‘failure’ kept resounding in her head.

The next day, she was in tears. The harsh reality came into view: if you build it, they may not come.

About two years later, she had a brand new CD launch to promote. This time she learned from her experiences that it is better to run out of seats at a small venue than only partially fill a massive hall, so she booked a much more intimate and classy place for the launch.

She remembered that the expense spent on printing posters and hanging them in public spaces did not bring in many people, so she avoided that cost. She also learned the importance of pre-selling tickets prior to the event date – realising now that people tend to bail out of events on the night due to unforseen circumstances, bad weather or sickness.

This time, her launch was sold-out a day before the event. Hallelujah! It was a wonderful night. She felt like a star because they bought her CDs and asked for her autograph after the show.

She learned from her previous experiences.

The little singer-songwriter was of course, me.

Maybe you’ve heard the story of how Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. It took him 10,000 mistakes to refine the light bulb. He is quoted as stating: “I have not failed. I have just found 9,999 ways that do not work”.

And J.K. Rowling said, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”

I have come to the realisation that failure is not something that I should be afraid of, because if you live your life in fear of failing, you will never try, and if you don’t try, you stop, and if you stop, you also stop creating.

And ultimately, you rob yourself and others of the opportunity to create something great.

It defines your boundaries; it gives you clarity and guidance. It tells you what not to do next time.

I don’t mean to trivialise it. Yes it is humiliating. It is painful.

But if you can learn from it, it grows and moulds you into the person you were born to be.

The creative life is a life filled with failure.

It is not for the faint-hearted.

It is not for a weak-willed person.

It is not for one who gives up easily.

It’s time to stop seeing failure as your enemy, and start seeing it as an honest and truth-bearing friend.

And speaking of FUTURE DATES, I present to you a performance that I am itching to invite you to ... a smorgasbord of delectable acoustic music:

Song Lounge, 23 November, Monday. The Ellington. Perth. 191 Beaufort St Perth. There will also be Siobhan Cotchin, Minky G and David Craft on the bill.

I've even prepared an exciting new mystery cover song for you, and of course I will also be performing my new single, 'Jordan'.

Getcha friends together and book a table here (and if you have no friends or don't have friends with good musical taste ;) then just come by yourself and say hi to me) ... don't wait because Song Lounges have been known to sell out fast: http://www.ellingtonjazz.com.au/event/song-lounge-november/or click on the picture:

Music Video news

Thank you to everyone who helped to crowdfund my new video for my new single, Jordan. There have been a few technical setbacks (for example new footage that needed to be shot) and as a result the release date is looking to be November. Why oh why is life never simple?

I thank you for your patience and understanding. I don't have a manager or an entourage to help me while I work full-time 9 to 5 in an office, so it is has been challenging trying to organise all the little things that need to be done to keep the Jade Diary machine going!

I look forward to releasing the single and music video to you shortly ... HERE'S TO THE FUTURE!

But really, I'm learning how to be more like a duck. Or as my pretty friend (no she's not really my friend lol), Taylor, said ever so wisely, 'shake it off'.

As a creative person, I've found that hyper-sensitivity is a natural in-born trait of mine. Ever since I was a child, I was told 'stop being so sensitive', 'you're too sensitive'. It was drilled in to me since day 0 that being sensitive is a negative trait. And that is largely due to the culture I was born in - Singapore - a pressure cooker environment where performance is everything, and anything less than that was a cop out. Fit in or be left out in the cold.

Sensitivity was something I hated about myself. Sad to say.

Over the years I learned that sensitivity is a God-given trait of mine. As Jeff Crabtree so eloquently speaks about sensitivity or 'skinlessness' in his brilliant must-read 'Living With a Creative Mind' book:

"The creative mind is wired with the ability to feel with great depth and passion. Creative people often experience the world in a way we call skinless – as if they lack the protective shield and instinctive filtering that we normally use to cope with the barrage of sensory information that comes at us all."

Crabtree speaks of this 'skinlessness' as necessary for a creative person - it is because we are like 'sponges' soaking up the emotions and the environment around us - this helps us to reflect back the information and emotions that we take in and re-shape them so as to create the art that we need to create. Our sensitivity enables us to do what we were born to do. But it is a double-edged sword. As much as it enables us to create, it also means that we suffer greatly - more so than those who do not have this same 'gift'. I try to remind myself that it really is a gift not a curse after all.

So, no I do not have 67 reasons as to why you should be a duck. But I have one very good reason for myself (and maybe you can take this away with you too): you must be a duck that does not soak up the water but repels the water droplets so that it floats on the surface. The water does not sink them - and this helps them to stay afloat or survive the harshness of life.

I recently had a very bad day. I won't say what happened exactly - but I was criticised. It seemed frustrating to me when I tried so hard to please everyone.

So I had to learn to be more like a duck.

And in so doing I learned the importance of being an encourager rather than someone who does the opposite. To build up, not tear down. There is so much tearing down in the world, that it's easy to swing with the tide and do the same. But no. Let's not tear down today. Let's build someone up. Is there someone in your life who needs encouragement today?

Music Video news

Some of you may remember that I am releasing a single with a new music video to accompany it. And it was supposed to be released around March. Thank you for your patience, but as with many things in life, things don't always go according to plan. And I've had some major setbacks creatively with this and emotionally as well. It's not always easy trying to move something along when you are a solo artist. But the shoot date has been scheduled for July. I make no promises, but hope to release it to you some time in the next few months. I'm thankful that you are patient with me.

I took this picture below this morning at Bondi Beach, Sydney, as I'm here to work on a new song. Excited to be bringing this song to you and its music video in the new year

Author Neil Gaiman (oh my goodness I love the Sandman series!) has something amazing to say about the New Year:

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”

- Neil Gaiman

I agree Neil. The fear of making mistakes will kill creativity. Great things to come ... new songs to write, music videos to film, people to meet. Happy creating, living, risking, enjoying and learning in 2015.

Let me know your resolutions or plans for this year and if you haven't already, connect up on Facebook, Youtube, Soundcloud, Instagram (click on the cute little icons for these links).

I've been super busy with life in general but managed to spend some time writing a hot new single that was recorded at Soundbaker Studio recently. It's currently still being mixed and perfected ... so please be patient my little precious peeps!

No, not really. In fact, I don't think I'm any kind of winged creature or close to being able to fly. Wish I could sometimes. Don't we all?

"I am not a bird" is the first lyric line in my song, 'Rivers' from my debut album, Mermaid, in case you were wondering why the 23 March event at Clancy's Fremantle is named in such a way. Would be great to see you there!

Lim matches her melodic tones and emotionally rich lyrics with some fantasy-inspired synth to produce a debut album with a dream-like quality that’s second-to-none. Introducing us to her work, Lim pulls you in with opening track Mermaid, which, funnily enough, familiarises us with the idea of the mermaid’s beauty, while simultaneously allowing us to explore every gorgeous facet of Lim’s melodic and haunting vocals.

An album with more highs than lows, each track has a different selling point – whether it is the lyrics in Cold Hearted that Lim passionately sings, “Your scent it lingers and it steals away my sanity.../Blinded by beauty and seduced by my vanity”, the perfect match of synth and percussion in A Thousand Days, or the soaring, lingering vocals in Lucid Dreams, each song wraps itself around your eardrums and tugs until it has engulfed your whole body.

The album is an exploration of various sincere, well-articulated emotions, without sounding whiny and repetitive. Like the swift, yet graceful movement of a mermaid, this album flows flawlessly through a saturated music scene, leaving you in bewilderment of what you have just experienced. It’s hard to fault this album. Jade Diary’s debut is something Perth, and Australia, should be proud of.

I collaborated with UK dance music producer, Pentaprism, to co-write and sing for a song called Silver Clouds. In the first day of Pentaprism uploading the track to his Soundcloud profile, the song attracted more than 1600 listens! Have a listen here by clicking on the picture below and please share it with your friends on Facebook or anywhere else:

I will be flying with my 5 piece band to Toowoomba, Queensland, to perform in Easterfest on 28 March 2013. Headlining this year are Audio Adrenaline, Relient K, James Morrison, Tigertown and many other artists. The Clancy's gig on 23 March is like a pre-celebratory event just before we fly off! If you will be at Easterfest from 28 March to 31 March, please come to some of my shows:

Glowing reviews ...

Here are what some reviewers including X-Press Magazine had to say about my new music:

"Jade Diary is an artist to watch; a voice that isn't like every other out there. The three songs that she wrote are full of emotion and imagery.
She will have you longing for the days when Lilith Fair was the concert to see, because surely she'd be part of it."- Andrea Guy, Mossip

"Every now and then a new voice with fresh attitude arrives on the acoustic-pop scene. That voice is here within the soul of Jade Diary.
Prepare to be beguiled by the charming chanteuse ..." - X-Press Magazine

"This is songwriting at it's best; an earnest message coated in a memorable hook and taken to new heights" - Simon McMurdo, The Sonic Reverie

FREE SONGS for you: 'A Thousand Days' + 'Landscape of Dreams'

For a short time only, I want to give you a free download of my song, 'A Thousand Days', just click here:http://www.jadediary.com/secrets and see some exclusive behind-the-scenes videos.

Why? Just because you are very special to me ... anyone who signs up to my Jade Diary club is pretty fantabulous in my books! :D

As I write this my song, A Thousand Days, is #2 on the Triple J Unearthed Pop Chart! And #10 on the overall Unearthed Chart! 'A Thousand Days' jumped 61 places within a week! And it's made it to the #10 spot on the chart within 2 weeks. How excoitement.

Triple J haven't played my song yet though. If you want to hear it on Triple J radio, please text and request "Jade Diary's A Thousand Days" to 0439 757 555. It's +61 439 757 555 if you life outside Australia. The phone cannot be called, only texted to.